I'm still here, El Guapo!

Right. Still alive. Still knitting, more or less. My current show is a son of a bitch, but it's up and running, and I've got a small part in the next show, so plenty of time for knitting. I made a whole Garter Crack Square today during auditions and the first read-through, so things should progress nicely.

I've finished an item or two: the Blacke Sockes are done. Have not photographed them, though, sorry. And I really should try them on because I have a sneaking suspicion that I knitted one a lot looser than the other. Ah well. Surely my mom has one foot bigger than the other, right?

I've also been having some serious yarn-purchasing cravings. So far I've been successful in squashing them, but I really just want to go nuts at KnitPicks. Really really really.

Argh. Must go to bed. My show and a good hearty round of pissed-offedness at my internet connection have worn me out.

ooh.

The only thing better than turning heels is turning heels while listening to King's Crossing really loud in headphones.

Oh yeah.

have I mentioned . . .

. . . that I really, really like knitting heels? I get all excited when I'm almost finished with the leg of the sock, because oh boy here comes the heel! Toes are almost as much fun, but not quite.

I haven't tried any toe-up socks yet, and I don't know if I ever will, just because of my heel fetish. I mean, then all the good stuff is done first and it's just dull ol' leg, leg, leg, and then cuff, which doesn't really rev my engines. Nope, top-down socks it will be for me for the forseeable future.

(Hey, let's see how many times we can have 'for' in once sentence! No--one clause! Woo!)

I enjoy top-down sweaters, too, but that's mostly because I'm not a fan of sewing-up. Which goes without saying. Is there anyone out there who gets all excited to sew together the bits of a sweater? And it doesn't count if you get excited because it means you get to wear the sweater soon. No, it has to be the actual process of sewing the pieces together that you love. The actual process of sewing the pieces together usually just makes me curse foully.

In other news, I still haven't decided what, if anything, to make my brother for his birthday. Someone with more skills than I have needs to design some interesting (and by 'interesting' I don't mean 'heinous') man-sweaters.

oooh. yellow.

Baby sweater! It's the Knitting Pure and Simple Easy Baby Cardigan. and when they say easy, they mean easy.
The yarn is nothing posh: just a cone of Peaches & Creme yarn from the Wal-Mart, but that stuff gets nice and soft after a wash or two. And you can't beat the price, especially for something that's just going to be spit up on eventually.

I'm gonna make one without the hood, and maybe with some sea-green crochet edging, for another baby.

Small stuff is super fun.

Oh, and I believe the Garter Crack Square Count is up to thirteen. I think the absolute minimum I can go with is 48. But I'm not sure. Like I've said, my math skills are not of the best, though I think all the knitting is making them better. I've always been good at learning stuff if there's a purpose. Just doing problems on a paper always seemed like such a waste of time and graphite.

oh boy oh boy

In case you're wondering why I haven't said much (ok, anything) the past two days, it's because I've been spending my time knitting instead of blogging. I will have a lovely finished item to show you tomorrow! (Or almost finished. It'll depend on how fast I get the ties done. Plus I have an audition and a show . . . but the knitting will prevail!)

shaking the crack addiction

Ok, so the picture is awkward (it wouldn't rotate in iPhoto and I'm too lazy to open Photoshop) but here is the item responsible for slowing down my production of crack squares. I kept wondering why I wasn't getting as many squares done, and then I was like, oh yeah, idiot, you've been working on the socke in all the at-home knitting time. Silly rabbit. I don't know if you can tell from the picture (funny how patterns don't show up that well in black) but I've gotten on the bandwagon and am making the Jaywalker socks. I figured they were interesting enough that I wouldn't want to kill myself, yet also simple enough that if I screw up I'll be able to tell where I am (this is not so easy with black) so I won't have to rip out the whole socke. Because that would lead to madness.

In other news, if you were a guy about to have your 33rd birthday, and say your sister was a crazed knitter, would you want her to knit you an item, say a blanket, or would you rather have a gift card to Borders or something?

this is weird.

So we all remember how I posted a couple of days ago about how I was going to look into getting a walkman-like device? Portable music/book player? Yeah?

Well, yesterday I'm talking to my mom (who doesn't read this blog) just about whatever, we talk a LOT, and she randomly comes up with the info that she bought my dad an iPod for Christmas last year, and he hasn't used it it because it's too much of a process to load books onto, so do I want it?

Wha? iPod? Me?

Ok. Twist my arm.

I imagine I can deal with the loading books process, right?

I wonder what I should 'think about getting' next? Car? Boyfriend? House? World peace? A President who's not a moron?

That's probably the best choice, right? I shall now look into acquiring a President who's not a moron. If we're lucky, one will show up in three or four days.

mmm, socks . . .

Have been working on Ye Olde Blacke Socke these past couple of days. That yarn is totally sex. I love it. It's making such a gorgeous fabric that I will have to work very hard not to keep these for myself.

I may be asking for random skeins of Lanett for Christmas. I don't even care what color. I just want to roll in it.

In other news, I am drinking the first Coke I've had in over a week, and damn, it tastes good.

Garter Crack

Right. Here's the crack total so far, in a semi-random arrangement. I've left the picture kind of slanty to go with the cracked-out theme. I need to learn how to take better pictures.

multitasking

I think I may have to invest in some sort of walkman-esque item (do the kids still call them walkmans? God, I'm old) so that I can listen to books on tape while I knit. I haven't been reading much lately--in part because I don't have really good access to a library, but also because I haven't figured out how to hold a book and knit at the same time without getting horribly frustrated. I've tried to grow a second pair of arms, but so far have met with no success.

And of course, the cd drive on my computer is broken, so I can't listen to stuff on that.

Anyone know of any good sites where one can download audio books? There must be something, but I am a suckful net-surfer and will only end up swearing at my screen if I go looking.

In other news, these garter squares are like crack, only not dangerous.

Ok, I admit it.

I bought yarn. I mean, the whole point of this cotton garter-stitch blanket is to get rid of some of the ol' stash (even though the ol' stash really isn't that big) and there I go, buying more cotton yarn. Oh, Peaches & Creme, I love you.

In my defense, the blanket really does need more than one square of variegated yarn. I think I may buy one of the big ol' cones, once I do a few more squares and decide which color would be best. I think I'm leaning towards the variegated yellow one.

Anyway. Must stop blogging and finish knitting the square I'm working on so I can play in the new yarn.

(In other news, there's a link up to the new Doctor Who episode and it DOESN'T WORK. I might cry. I need to know what happens!)

coincidence.

I have this odd . . . can't really call it a habit, since it's involuntary, but this odd sort of way of, when I'm buying new books or getting some from the library, of picking up two or three that will have a weird link. Like the time I bought two romance novels with virgin heroes. This is very rare in romance novels, and wasn't on the blurb on the back or anything. When I read the second one, I about freaked out. What are the chances? Anyway, I do this pretty often.

If you're wondering what this has to do with knitting, it's because I now seem to be doing the same thing with knitting patterns. I've been meaning to mention that all three of the patterns I'm currently working on (not counting the garter squares) deal with double decreases, a thing I had never done before. I have set off on an unintended double decrease tutorial. Frankly, it's weird.

If this is my psychic power, I have absolutely no idea how to turn it into a force for good.

That's so square, man.

Right. I think I may have reached my saturation point with the garter squares, and may be hopping back to something more complicated soon. Don't worry, the garter blanket (which may sound sexy, but is really not) will continue on: I can't knit complicated stuff while I learn lines.

I've got a bit of leftover sock yarn in obnoxious blue and white, but I'm curious to see how it knits up on smaller needles than I used last time. If we're lucky, the pattern will be less spastic. And hey, we like the baby socks, right? Plus I know the knitting of a sock will send my newly-met cast members into a frenzy. People tend to freak out when they see anyone knitting anything other than your basic scarf, I've noticed. And it's not really as if knitting a sock is that much harder than a scarf. If you can knit, purl, and count, you can totally knit a sock. Or anything else you want to, for that matter. Branch out, my friends! Knit something stunning and glorious! Knit pants!

So yeah. Possibly tiny blue-and-white socks. Too bad my friend who's a Penn State alum is not among the friends having babies.

Oh, and I knit up some wool squares to send off to this: Rebuilding Greensburg--Block By Block. Blankets for Greensburg, Kansas, y'all. Good stuff.

In other news, it's been a full week since my last yarn purchase. This is probably good, because I am poor, but sometimes when I am frolicking about on the internet and I see all the gorgeous sock yarn people are using . . . oh, I want it. I really do. I may have to quit acting just so I can get a job that supports my knitting addiction.